ArticleThe Journal of infectious diseases2015
Rapid and Profound Shifts in the Vaginal Microbiota Following Antibiotic Treatment for Bacterial Vaginosis.
Article in The Journal of infectious diseases, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 87 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
87 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 129 citations in OpenAlex.
- Contribution ofFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2021Pooled it
- Vaginal microbiota stability over 18 months in young student women in France.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2024Trial
- Metronidazole treatment rapidly reduces genital inflammation through effects on bacterial vaginosis-associated bacteria rather than lactobacilli.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2022Trial
- Evaluating the Efficacy of Eradicating Gardnerella vaginalis Vaginal Colonization With Amoxicillin: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Phase 2 Study.Sexually transmitted diseases · 2022Trial
- Supplementation of standard antibiotic therapy with oral probiotics for bacterial vaginosis and aerobic vaginitis: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.BMC women's health · 2015Trial
- Chemical Biology 2025: Highlights From the Ch/Bi145 Course at Caltech.Chembiochem : a European journal of chemical biology · 2026Review
- Review
- Vaginal microbiomes and their pertinent social context: a microbial ecological review proffering AMR-STI acquisition and emergence.Biology of sex differences · 2026Review
- Harnessing the Vaginal Microbiome: A New Frontier in the Prevention of Sexually Transmitted Infections.Expert reviews in molecular medicine · 2026Review
- The Role of the Vaginal Microbiome in Gynecological Diseases: Mechanistic Insights and Emerging Interventions.Biology · 2026Review
- Resource landscape shapes the composition and stability of the human vaginal microbiota.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Prevalence of and Factors Associated with Antibiotic Prescription in Gynecological Practices in Germany.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- HPV vaccination associates withFrontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Randomized trial of multi-strainContemporary clinical trials communications · 2025Article
- Vaginal microbiome and preterm birth: Composition, mechanisms and microbiota‑directed therapies (Review).International journal of molecular medicine · 2025Review
- The Vaginal Microbiome: Setting the Stage for Cancer?The Journal of infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Article
- Synthetic Mucins as Glycan-Defined Prebiotics.ACS central science · 2025Article
- Bacterial vaginosis.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2025Review
- The Vaginal Microbiome: Associations with Vaginal pH, Menopause and Metabolic Parameters.Microorganisms · 2025Article
27 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundBacterial vaginosis (BV) is a common polymicrobial disease associated with numerous negative reproductive health outcomes, including an increased risk of human immunodeficiency virus acquisition. BV is treatable with antibiotics, but relapse is common. A more detailed understanding of bacterial dynamics during antibiotic therapy for BV could identify conditions that favor establishment, maintenance, and eradication of BV-associated bacterial species, thereby improving treatment outcomes.
methodsWe used mathematical models to analyze daily quantitative measurements of 11 key bacterial species during metronidazole treatment for 15 cases of BV.
resultsWe identified complete reorganization of vaginal bacterial composition within a day of initiating therapy. Although baseline bacterial levels predicted a longer time to clearance, all anaerobic species were eliminated rapidly within a median of 3 days. However, reemergence of BV-associated species was common following treatment cessation. Gardnerella vaginalis, a facultative anaerobe, was cleared more slowly than anaerobic BV-associated species, and levels of G. vaginalis often rebounded during treatment. We observed gradual Lactobacillus species growth, indicating that untargeted microbes fill the transient vacuum formed during treatment.
conclusionsUnder antibiotic pressure, the human microbiome can undergo rapid shifts on a scale of hours. When treatment is stopped, BV-associated bacteria quickly reemerge, suggesting a possible role for intermittent prophylactic treatment.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.